10-year sentence in murder-for-hire plot

An Anahuac man who tried to give an undercover officer more than $25,000 to kidnap his Russian mail-order bride has been sentenced to 10 years in jail. David Houston Sartin, 49, pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence against Elena Barykina, a Ukrainian national.

According to Examiner archives, Sartin became enraged by his bride when she asked for more than $17,000 to attend a school in Russia. In an attempt to avenge their soured love, Sartin set out to kill his lover and eventually came into contact with undercover ATF agents who set up a sting operation at the Sutherlands in Beaumont. When Sartin delivered the second $25,000 promised to the undercover agent turned would-be kidnapper, police promptly arrested Sartin, who had a pair of handcuffs, a handgun and a room where police say he planned to detain Barykina in his home.

Sartin told the undercover agents he wanted to “personally take care of her,” according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Examiner.

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